`55 million Indians are obese`

Rajkot: Expressing concern over the increasing number of people suffering from obesity, a leading surgeon of the country said that around 55 million people of India are obese.

"Obesity is a disease and there are so many reasons behind obesity, like metabolic disorder, genetic problems, excessive inactivity and consumption of excess calories," Shah said adding that obesity is also linked to a number of diseases like diabetes and heart ailments.

Shah is a well-known obesity surgeon from Pune, who has performed over 2,000 obesity operations. He is claimed to be the first doctor, who performed an obesity operation in
India.